On Feb 19, 12:08 am, "RedPenguin" wrote:
On Feb 18, 11:46 pm, "Joe Analssandrini"
wrote:



On Feb 18, 10:29 pm, "RedPenguin" wrote:

I live in Pennsylvania, USA.

I just recently learned about shortwave. I believe it would be
something very good to get into.

I am not 100% sure on what to get in a receiver.

I want a portable kind so I can travel with it.

I found this online:

Kaito 1102 AM/FM Shortwave Radio

Is that a good radio to start out with or is it sucky?

I want to be able to pretty much hear everything and anything but I
don't wanna pay $1,000+. Is there a really nice portable that has a
fairly reasonable price tag? I seen some for like $350 but I don't
wanna spend that much until I know for a fact I am getting a great
radio.

Dear Sir,

The Kaito KA-1102 is indeed a pretty good radio as evidenced by the
many positive owners' comments concerning it. Its price certainly
can't be beat when one considers the features offered. However I
should like to mention that, according to the 2007 edition of PASSPORT
TO WORLD BAND RADIO, Degen's (the actual Chinese manufacturer) quality-
control has become "hit or miss" during the past year. This,
unfortunately, coincides with many of my experiences with Chinese-made
electronic equipment. While some can be very good indeed, many of the
products made "to a price" often are of inferior quality. And their
"longevity" leaves a great deal to be desired.

May I recommend to you my personal favorite portable? It is the Sony
ICF-SW7600GR and it is made (to a very high construction standard) in
Japan. This radio is very well designed and is an excellent performer
to boot. It can be purchased at J&R Music World http://www.jr.com/
JRProductPage.process?Product=1627439, at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICF-SW760...ver-Reception/
dp/B00006IS4X/sr=8-1/qid=1171859278/
ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0307019-7784070?ie=UTF8&s=electronics, and at
many radio dealers (Universal Radio, AES, etc.). It's more costly than
the Kaito, but I truly believe it is well-worth the difference. I own
five (5) of these radios, purchased over several years; all function
exactly the same (which shows great consistency of construction) and
it is a radio that, in my opinion, an owner will never "outgrow" no
matter how serious an SWL one becomes. It performs exceptionally well
on shortwave, on local and distant AM, and on FM. It's easy on
batteries (I use NiMH rechargeable ones). You will be able to hear
just about anything you would like, remembering, of course, that we
are now at the "bottom" of the eleven-year sunspot cycle, so listening
becomes more of a challenge. (Conditions should start to greatly
improve beginning as early as next year.) However, that does not
preclude hearing some very exotic signals with this radio. Lately,
I've listened to Egypt, Australia, South Africa, Albania, and many
other stations with it. Hams who use single sideband (SSB)
transmissions can also be heard easily and their signals are easy to
demodulate with this radio. It's even a dual-alarm clock! (I always
carry one on vacations or other trips.)

There is far more about which I could write, but I think you "get the
picture." I believe you would be very happy with the Sony ICF-
SW7600GR. I know I am!

Best of luck,

Joe

Thank You Very Much. SSB pretty much means LSB and USB right? Because
I wanna get all the modes. I think the main ones are AM, LSB/USB
(SSB?) and CW. Does that radio do it all?

Yes it does "do it all," and very well too! To explain simply, AM
signals have a carrier wave and two sidebands, one upper sideband
(above the carrier) - USB - and one lower - LSB. By "stripping" out
the carrier and one of the sidebands, the signal becomes much more
efficient - via SSB, far less power is required to achieve long-
distance transmissions than with regular AM. The downside is that
demodulating such signals ("tuning them in") is much more difficult
(less convenient) than merely tuning in a "straight" AM signal. Audio
quality suffers too, at least to some extent. The radio makes the
signal listenable by actually generating a carrier within the receiver
itself to substitute for the "stripped-away" carrier. The Sony does
this very well indeed, far better than any other small portable
shortwave receiver currently on the market. Due to the complexity of
tuning, only Hams and a very few broadcasters (most notably the Armed
Forces Network) use this mode. But you can surely hear some very
interesting things on the Ham bands and you'll almost always find them
transmitting in SSB. Below 10000 kHz, most Hams use LSB; above 10000
kHz, they mostly use USB. But this is not a "hard and fast" rule. (AFN
uses USB exclusively no matter the frequency on which they're
transmitting.) Once you tune in a signal via straight AM - and hear
something that sounds like "Donald Duck," you merely switch between
USB and LSB and then adjust the clarifier control on the ICF-SW7600GR
until the signal comes in clearly. Once you get the hang of it, it's
easy.

Please note this carefully - shortwave radio isn't easy, like AM and
FM radio. There is a learning curve. No one becomes an instantaneous
DX expert. When you get a shortwave radio, the very first thing you
should do is to read the instruction book! And then read it again!
Keep reading it until you thoroughly understand it and can operate all
the facilities (functions) of the radio. Then the REAL learning
starts. You have to learn WHERE, WHEN, and HOW to hear those exotic
signals you desire. There is no other way than to read (books as well
as online sources) and get first-hand practical experience. It takes
time and there is no way to compress time. And you're going to make
mistakes. (Remember Oscar Wilde's famous quotation: "Experience is the
name everyone gives to their mistakes.") Any shortwave radio is a
sophisticated piece of electronic gear and, as such, demands effort.
That said, in my opinion, any effort put into learning this hobby is
well-worth it and the rewards will greatly exceed the effort involved.

Best,

Joe